Wednesday, 29 September 2010

Let's Brew Wednesday - Lees 1952 Stout

It seems like ages since the last Let's Brew. Probably because it has been ages. I should have published this last week. But somehow managed to forget.

Lees Stout this time. For a long time, Lees didn't brew a Stout at all. When they did start making one again, it was a very different beer. The pre-war Stout had an OG of over 1050, you'll see this one is notably weaker. And a good bit more sugary.

English Stouts changed considerably during the 20th century. They became, weaker, less hoppy and sweeter. By the 1950's, Stout was also becoming pretty much exclusively a bottled beer. In 1956, Lees changed their Stout, upping the sugar content to over 40%. About a third of the sugar was in the form of lactose, which boosted the FG to 1024 and reduced the ABV to 2.25%. Many breweries did something similar, though some did still continue to brew drier, more attenuated Stouts. Ironically, around the same time Guinness did the exact opposite, increasing the attenation to make their Stout even drier.

That's me done, so over to Kristen . . . .

JW Lees - 1952 - Stout

General info: Stout! Really? Not really that stouty of a stout? Looks very much to me like a Guinness-y type stout with much less hop. Maybe more like a Murphys. Oats instead of flaked barley. No roasted barley!? Now how can it be a stout? 20% sugar? Ok, now this is looking more and more like a dark mild to me. Seems actually quite close to their mild. Where do we draw the line? More importantly, does it really matter?

Beer Specifics

Recipe by percentages

Gravity (OG)

1.038

52.6% English 2 Row

4.8% Oats

Gravity (FG)

1.011

5.7% Crystal 75L

20% Invert No1

ABV

3.59%

5.5% Chocolate malt

Apparent attenuation

70.85%

5.7% Brown malt

Real attenuation

58.04%

5.5% Black malt

IBU

17.5

Mash

90min@147°F

1.08qt/lb

SRM

51

90min@63.9°C

2.26L/kg

EBC

100.5

Boil

1.75 hours

Homebrew @ 70%

Craft @ 80%

Grist

5gal

19L

10bbl

10hl

English 2 Row

3.81

lb

1.732

kg

206.43

lb

79.76

kg

Crystal 75L

0.41

lb

0.189

kg

22.47

lb

8.68

kg

Chocolate malt

0.40

lb

0.183

kg

21.77

lb

8.41

kg

Brown malt

0.41

lb

0.189

kg

22.47

lb

8.68

kg

Black malt

0.40

lb

0.183

kg

21.77

lb

8.41

kg

Oats

0.35

lb

0.159

kg

18.96

lb

7.32

kg

Invert No1

1.45

lb

0.660

kg

78.64

lb

30.38

kg

Hops

Fuggle 5.5% 90min

0.41

oz

11.7

g

25.53

oz

0.617

kg

Fuggle 5.5% 30min

0.41

oz

11.7

g

25.53

oz

0.617

kg

Fermentation

63°F /17.2°C

Yeast

Manchester ale

1318 London Ale Yeast III -

Tasting Notes: Dark. Check that. Pretty damned dark. Big rich dark malt. Espresso, mocha, hints of cocoa and toasted bread crumbs. Touches of raisins and figs. Not thin but crisp. Quite mouth filling for being such a light beer. Side-by-side, it’s good from a bottle, really great from a cask. Simply, a delicious, elbowy little 'stout'.